Wildlife board gives green signal to second phase of Bangalore-Chennai Expressway, with riders

S
stenews
Wed, May 24, 2023 5:46 PM

Wildlife board gives green signal to second phase of Bangalore-Chennai
Expressway, with riders
Esha Roy, Indian Express
May 24, 2023

The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife has given green
signal for the construction of the second phase of the greenfield four-lane
Bangalore-Chennai Expressway, the Centre’s ambitious 262 km roadway costing
over Rs 16,000 crore.

The expressway will pass through Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Madu,
cutting the travel time between the two metropolises by nearly three hours.
It falls in the Palamaner and Tekumanda reserve forests, including the
Chittoor division, which is a part of the ESZ of the Koundinya Wildlife
Sanctuary and Rayala Elephant Reserve under Bharatmala. The NHAI has
proposed the use of 61.73 hectares of forest land for the construction of
the expressway.

The NBWL, in its meeting on April 25, kept certain conditions that the
NHAI, the project proponent, will have to maintain. The proposed area can
only be utilised for the expressway and not for any commercial purpose, the
diversion work will be executed under the supervision of the Forest
Department, the areas of diversion need to be demarcated by the agency
before the commencement of work, and the agency cannot carry out excavation
work in the surrounding forest land for collection of earth.

A wildlife conservation plan for Rs 1,698 lakh will need to be deposited by
the agency and 2 per cent of the project cost for conserving the elephant
habitat to tackle human-elephant conflicts.

After an earlier NBWL meeting in December 2022 led to the setting up of a
committee to examine the proposal, the committee recommended that an animal
passage plan for the 4-lane expressway along the 7.1 km stretch passing
through the forests of Chittoor Forest Division and Rayala Elephant Reserve
should be “considerably strengthened following the guidelines issued by
Wildlife Institute of India”, and the construction of underpasses to ensure
the free movement for elephants.

The NHAI subsequently revised the length of clear passage for animals to
3,090 metres in the proposed road.

“The entire 7.1 km stretch of the proposed expressway should not allow the
crossing of animals aboveground. Along the non-elevated sections of the
expressway, this can be ensured for the elephant by adopting the mechanical
railway barrier design used by Karnataka Forest Department at places in
Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks, but should be further modified by
adding an extra horizontal rail line to the prevailing two rail lines in
the Karnataka PAs and raising the overall height of the topmost line by
about 0.5 to 1.0 metres. Chain-link fence may also be added along the lower
part of the barrier to prevent mammals such as leopards, sloth bears, and
others from crossing the expressway,’’ the NBWL said.

The NBWL further stipulated that a research project to study the movement
of elephants and other fauna in this landscape, including GPS collaring,
with funding from NHAI, involving regional institutions, researchers, Wild
Life Warden/DFO and field staff should be carried out “to ensure the
efficacy of the animal passages as well as monitor possible repercussions
such as wildlife-human conflicts”.

A Biodiversity Conservation plan, including setting up a rapid response
team, and other measures for the mitigation of wildlife-human conflicts,
for the entire 48 km stretch of the NHAI road within 10 km of ESZ are also
to be prepared and implemented by the Forest Department of Andhra Pradesh
with funding from the NHAI.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/wildlife-board-gives-green-signal-to-second-phase-of-bangalore-chennai-expressway-with-riders-8626431/

Wildlife board gives green signal to second phase of Bangalore-Chennai Expressway, with riders Esha Roy, Indian Express May 24, 2023 The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife has given green signal for the construction of the second phase of the greenfield four-lane Bangalore-Chennai Expressway, the Centre’s ambitious 262 km roadway costing over Rs 16,000 crore. The expressway will pass through Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Madu, cutting the travel time between the two metropolises by nearly three hours. It falls in the Palamaner and Tekumanda reserve forests, including the Chittoor division, which is a part of the ESZ of the Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary and Rayala Elephant Reserve under Bharatmala. The NHAI has proposed the use of 61.73 hectares of forest land for the construction of the expressway. The NBWL, in its meeting on April 25, kept certain conditions that the NHAI, the project proponent, will have to maintain. The proposed area can only be utilised for the expressway and not for any commercial purpose, the diversion work will be executed under the supervision of the Forest Department, the areas of diversion need to be demarcated by the agency before the commencement of work, and the agency cannot carry out excavation work in the surrounding forest land for collection of earth. A wildlife conservation plan for Rs 1,698 lakh will need to be deposited by the agency and 2 per cent of the project cost for conserving the elephant habitat to tackle human-elephant conflicts. After an earlier NBWL meeting in December 2022 led to the setting up of a committee to examine the proposal, the committee recommended that an animal passage plan for the 4-lane expressway along the 7.1 km stretch passing through the forests of Chittoor Forest Division and Rayala Elephant Reserve should be “considerably strengthened following the guidelines issued by Wildlife Institute of India”, and the construction of underpasses to ensure the free movement for elephants. The NHAI subsequently revised the length of clear passage for animals to 3,090 metres in the proposed road. “The entire 7.1 km stretch of the proposed expressway should not allow the crossing of animals aboveground. Along the non-elevated sections of the expressway, this can be ensured for the elephant by adopting the mechanical railway barrier design used by Karnataka Forest Department at places in Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks, but should be further modified by adding an extra horizontal rail line to the prevailing two rail lines in the Karnataka PAs and raising the overall height of the topmost line by about 0.5 to 1.0 metres. Chain-link fence may also be added along the lower part of the barrier to prevent mammals such as leopards, sloth bears, and others from crossing the expressway,’’ the NBWL said. The NBWL further stipulated that a research project to study the movement of elephants and other fauna in this landscape, including GPS collaring, with funding from NHAI, involving regional institutions, researchers, Wild Life Warden/DFO and field staff should be carried out “to ensure the efficacy of the animal passages as well as monitor possible repercussions such as wildlife-human conflicts”. A Biodiversity Conservation plan, including setting up a rapid response team, and other measures for the mitigation of wildlife-human conflicts, for the entire 48 km stretch of the NHAI road within 10 km of ESZ are also to be prepared and implemented by the Forest Department of Andhra Pradesh with funding from the NHAI. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/wildlife-board-gives-green-signal-to-second-phase-of-bangalore-chennai-expressway-with-riders-8626431/